


Soft Power

by actualskeleton



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, POV Alternating, Yu-Gi-Oh! Mini-Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21690553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actualskeleton/pseuds/actualskeleton
Summary: Even though it's over, and he lost, Bakura can't help but try to steal one last thing from his ancient enemy the Pharaoh. But Yuugi Mutou's affections are not easy to steal, especially when Bakura finds his gentle personality surprisingly easy to open up to. Bakura hasn't really cared about anyone in millennia but it seems that's about to change.
Relationships: Yami Bakura/Mutou Yuugi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 48
Collections: Yu-Gi-Oh! It's Time to G-G-G-Gift! [Mini-Exchange]





	Soft Power

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SheepySeconds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheepySeconds/gifts).



"So what is this about?" Though they had settled their differences months ago, Yuugi still peered at Bakura with a tinge of suspicion.

"What, I can't just ask to take a walk down to the corner store with you?" Bakura's voice came out more hoarse than he'd have liked. "Maybe I'm just trying to get to know you better, make up for everything I've done."

"Ohh-kay." Yuugi kept walking but still seemed dubious. "You… you do realise that after everything this seems super suspicious, right? You pretended you wanted to be my friend several times and. Well, after… You know, I  _ want _ to believe I can trust you, but I feel like you should know this still seems… Hmm. I don't have total confidence in you yet."

Bakura nodded, frowning. "That is understandable. All I've ever known is bitterness and stealing and lies, how can you be expected to trust me overnight, right?" Yuugi, he understood now, wouldn't be saying all that if it wasn't true, especially the bit about wanting to trust him. It was like the boy had a pathological aversion to dishonesty. It was annoyingly disarming, but if Bakura was honest with himself, which he was trying not to be on this matter, it was kind of endearing.

"What could I do to prove myself to you?" The words were not supposed to come out of Bakura's mouth like that, not raw and sad and submissive. They weren't supposed to sound like that, that wasn't what he  _ meant _ , and Bakura cursed his voice's betrayal even as Yuugi thought about the question, not seeming to pay the tone any mind.

"There's not any one thing you can do, but. A good place to start would be telling me your name? Your real name."

"Oh." Bakura paused. "I, um. I forgot it. A long time ago."

"You forgot your name?"

Bakura shifted uncomfortably, not really wanting to share but unable to stop himself somehow. "I was a young child when the last people who used it were killed, and I didn't learn to read until much later. Names are only good when you have people to use them for you, and for that purpose stolen ones have always been better for me."

"I'm- I'm sorry." Yuugi's voice was filled with regret. "I didn't mean to bring up… that's terrible. Other me, Atem, at least got his name back, I guess I thought you would- I'm so sorry."

"Magic is reversible, the passage of time is not," Bakura mumbled. What did that even mean? Now he sounded like some sort of proverb spouting old man, where was his self control? "Landlord and I talked about it anyway, decided 'Bakura' is as good a name for me as any, and easiest to keep track of." This was true but why was he saying it? Anyone's guess was as good as his. Why did he just want to tell this boy everything, as though they hadn't been mortal enemies for so long? He had just wanted to gain his trust, maybe get close, make the pharaoh jealous. He hadn't intended this. 

As they turned the last corner back towards home, Bakura had to stop himself from outright sprinting for the building, to an escape from this conversation and his terrible, terrible impulses to tell Yuugi nearly every thought that popped into his head. He had to actively dial back his pace, exert complete control to keep a normal gait, why was this so hard?

Just before they got inside Yuugi stopped. 

_ No no no no no no no just a little further please _ , Bakura begged in his mind, struggling to keep his face impassive.

"I just want to thank you, Bakura-san. Thanks for staying honest, and for trusting me. You didn't have to tell me all that but you did and I appreciate it."

"It's not- not a big deal, okay, just. Don't go sharing what I said." The first direct lie he told all night and Bakura was stumbling over his words like some kind of amateur. What sorcery was this boy using?

"I promise I won't," Yuugi assured him.

And Bakura believed it.

\-----

"Are you sure he didn't try anything? Because you know, I could never let it lie if he-" Atem cut off and swallowed thickly, the unspoken, horrible end of that sentence hanging in the air. 

The concern was touching, and Yuugi appreciated it and the previous experience that had inspired it, but. "I really think he's trying to change, I can't really explain why. It was just some of the things he said, and how he said them. It sounded different than before." 

They were back at home after game night at Ryou's apartment that he now shared with the ancient Bakura.

"We do remember that he killed me, right?" Mahad remarked dryly over his tea in the corner, shifting unconsciously so the scars on his neck were more visible before settling down again. "I understand that his modern-born counterpart is your friend and you want things to settle down as quickly as possible but I wouldn't trust him so easily."

"I didn't say I trust him." Yuugi frowned. "Not yet anyway. I just think he deserves a chance."

Mahad exhaled sharply through his nose, not one to argue the matter, at least not out loud or with Yuugi, and went back to his book.

Atem put his hands on Yuugi's shoulders and squeezed, once. "I trust you, Aibou. But please, please be careful. If Bakura does anything, or even tries anything… if he threatens you in any way. Please tell me. I want you to be right, and we can bury this conflict finally, completely. But please be careful."

Yuugi pulled Atem into a full hug and Atem relaxed, still getting used to being able to fully give and receive affection.

"If anything happens, you'll be the first to know, I promise," Yuugi swore. "Thank you."

\-----

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Bakura scowled at his Landlord in the kitchen, putting away the last leftovers of the night's snacks. "No," he very nearly snarled, immediately defensive. In a more tempered tone, he amended, "There's nothing to talk about."

"Mmm." Landlord's tone sounded unconvinced and Bakura almost hissed, instantly irritable again. 

"Don't you 'mmm' at me, there's nothing to talk about."

"All I know is, you went out to get some more chips and dip with Yuugi-kun, and you came back all flustered and refusing to make eye contact with anyone. You don't get this worked up over nothing."

Bakura had thought he'd managed to keep himself pretty well under control, at least while the others had been there. Could it be that Landlord had noticed - no, there was nothing to notice. He was just tired and a little annoyed his plan hadn't worked as well as he'd wanted. At least, not yet. The… vulnerability he'd down earlier might actually work in his favor in the long run. The plan was to gain the boy's trust after all and sometimes the best way of doing that is to exhibit a little trust of your own. Not that he didn't trust Muto Yuugi. Actually, he very much did trust him and his kind hearted, honest nature not to share anything that was told to him in confidence. And it wasn't like he was taking advantage of that, not really. He had no intention of hurting Yuugi, this time, it was only the former pharaoh he had wanted to toy with, and after everything didn't he deserve it? So it wasn't like Bakura was actually doing anything wrong. Not like that mattered a whole lot, he could do bad things if he wanted, it was just easier to live in this time if he laid low and behaved, which was of course the only reason he cared. Yuugi might have been disappointed if he found out Bakura's true motives but that didn't matter. 

"You coming?" His Landlord stood by the door, having finished cleaning up in relative silence and even turning off the kitchen lights without Bakura's noticing.

He bolted from his chair and back out into the living room where he picked up the Monster World book off the table and leafed through it as thigh he didn't have the whole thing memorized.

Landlord smiled softly at the obvious ruse. "He's cute isn't he?"

Bakura choked, not expecting that. "What the hell… What are you on about!?"

"Yuugi. He's cute. You've finally tonight gotten your head out of your arse far enough to notice and that's why you're acting like this isn't it?" The Landlord's eyes often looked soft and nearly empty but right now they held a sharp smugness that Bakura knew was closer to the truth of his personality.

"You've lost your damn mind," Bakura grumbled, squinting and lowering his eyes back to the handbook. "Why would  _ I _ be interested in  _ that _ ."

"I mean, I don't know, you have eyes. I presume they work."

"First of all," Bakura spat, "I don't  _ like _ people. Never. Caring about people, especially like that, is a waste of time. And even if I did, Muto Yuugi would be the  _ last _ person I would consider."

The Landlord shrugged. "Don't feel bad, it happens to all of us. I'm honestly pretty sure Honda would date Yuugi if given the opportunity, and he's straight."

"Well  _ I'm  _ not  _ anything _ , so get that idea out of your head real quick." Bakura hissed.

"Keep living in denial if you want. I'm going to bed." The landlord yawned and walked down the short hallway and into his room, shutting the door behind him and leaving Bakura alone with his thoughts.

Thoughts which were best drowned out by sharp comments and which now seemed to fill his head at an unthinkable volume. Stupid Landlord, what did he know? Bakura  _ used _ people, he didn't have time to get attached. Especially not to  _ Yuugi _ . What kind of absolute nonsense? Bakura put the book aside and curled up on the couch, his grumbling reassurances to himself eventually giving way to sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, Bakura tried very hard to convince himself he did not remember his dreams. 

\-----

It had been a few weeks since Yuugi and Bakura's exchange on the way back from their game night snack run, and Yuugi was worried. Though at first it seemed he'd wanted to talk again, at this point Bakura seemed to be avoiding him, keeping his eyes down and skittering around the edges of the room when Yuugi came over to hang out with Ryou. When questioned about the former thief king's increasingly dodgy behavior, Ryou simply laughed and said he was "adjusting". Adjusting to what, he refused to say.

Mahad took this change in behavior as proof that Bakura was, once again, up to something, and tough Atem didn't say anything Yuugi could tell he agreed.

Yuugi wasn't so sure. There was a time when he would jump on the opportunity to assume Bakura was up to something, but they were past that now. After the truth of the thief king's past had been revealed, and especially now, Yuugi wanted to believe he could be helped. Bakura had trusted him with something, exposed something painful to him, and now he seemed almost scared. Usually, when Bakura was trying to enact some sort of scheme, he was confident, arrogant even. But now he was slinking around like a frightened, feral animal. 

Yuugi would just have to do something about it. 

He got his chance one afternoon when he came over to study with Ryou. When he realised he was missing an important ingredient for dinner, Ryou stepped out to go get some, leaving Yuugi and Bakura alone in the apartment together.

They were both in the living room, but Bakura was still avoiding him, keeping his nose buried in a Monster World manual Yuugi was fairly certain he already had memorized. Now seemed as good a time as any to address his concerns.

"Hey, are you alright?" Yuugi tried to keep his voice casual and nonthreatening. He knew better than to corner a frightened animal. 

Bakura's eyes flashed up and quickly back to his book, where he'd been on the same page for the past 15 minutes. "I'm fine," Bakura snapped, his words clipped, sharp, defensive.

"Oookay." Yuugi paused, eyeing him warily. After a few moments he thought it would be safe to speak again. "How did you get that scar?"

"What?" Bakura jumped, clearly not expecting that.

"That scar, the one on your eye. How did you get it?" Yuugi considered for a moment, then added. "You don't have to answer, of course. I was just curious."

"Oh, well." Bakura looked puzzled, as though he was debating something. He opened his mouth and then closed it, and Yuugi thought he wasn't going to get an answer, but Bakura opened his mouth again, this time to speak. "I ran into some wealthy merchant or something. Accident. Bastard got mad, offended, tried to have one of his men take my eye as a punishment. First time I summoned a  _ ka _ was to get away from them. Probably killed them, I'm not sure." His voice was quiet, and filled with a sort of pained sincerity that Bakura never had when he'd spoken before. 

Before the Pharaoh's Memory game, before that walk a few weeks ago, Bakura had always seemed very closed off, self reliant and arrogant. But now Yuugi felt like he was getting him to open up, to share and maybe even let himself feel things, a task Ryou had admitted defeat in. Yuugi wanted more of that. He wanted to be Bakura's confidante, wanted him to share his past, his pains, the things that had hurt him. He wanted to let him let go of those things.

Caught up in the thought, Yuugi suddenly snapped back to the present had to stop himself getting out of his chair to go… do something. He wasn't sure what he had been planning, only saw his own hand outstretched towards Bakura as though it had moved on its own. He put it down. Bakura was thankfully still glaring at his book trying to avoid eye contact, and didn't seem to have noticed the gesture.

"I have a scar right here from that time Ryuji's dad kind of tried to burn me alive." Yuugi pulled aside the collar of his shirt to reveal the streaky burn scar. "You, kind of helped save me from that as I recall."

"I only did it because you dying at that point would've been inconvenient for me." Bakura glanced up and his eyes seemed to get stuck for a moment, staring at Yuugi's revealed scar, but eventually his gaze returned to the book."D-don't get it twisted, I didn't do it because I'm secretly a good person or something." He turned a page. "I do what suits me, alright, I don't care about people, I don't get attached. That kind of shit might work for you but it's always been a waste of my time."

"Then why did you actually want to take that walk with me?" Yuugi blurted. "Why even stay here?"

Bakura winced, but then stood up and snarled. "You want to know why I took that walk with you the other day? You want the truth!?"

"Yes please."

"Fine! I was trying to upset your precious pharaoh, alright? I thought that by stealing your attention, maybe gaining your trust or, I don't know, getting you to  _ like _ me somehow, that I could make him jealous, hurt him, make him feel some tiny, insignificant pinprick of pain, some kind of consequences for  _ everything _ I have been through, so that someone  _ other _ than me would get to suffer even a little bit from this whole ordeal!" Bakura took a step towards him, and another, slowly advancing as he spoke. "But you! You're so godsdamn  _ nice _ . Something about you, I just, I tell you things. I can't control myself, you ask me something in that soft, concerned voice of yours, you say something, and you actually care, like some kind of sheltered baby, and I just tell you! Whatever it is you ask me, I can't stop. You don't even really have to ask, honestly, because while every instinct in my body screams at me to  _ shut the hell up _ , something about you makes me want to vomit my life's story at your feet, I can't help it." Bakura was losing steam and he staggered to a stop in front of Yuugi's chair, falling to his knees. He bowed his head. "Make it stop. I don't care what you do, hate me if you want, just stop this, make me stop wanting to tell you things. I can't stand it."

"You don't have to tell me anything." Yuugi looked down at him, his kneeling form, shaking under the weight of three millennia of repressed pain and anger, the force of keeping that all in. "You don't have to tell me anything but I'll always listen if you want me to. Keeping yourself locked down like that, all the time, it's not good for you. I'm not going to force you to keep doing that."

"When I care about people, they die," Bakura growled, his face covered by his hair and his shoulders tight. "They get taken away. I'm not allowed to have anyone, okay, I haven't cared about anyone in three thousand years. Don't do this, don't let me do this, I can't. I can't. Stop."

Yuugi got up and pushed his chair aside so he could kneel next to Bakura. "What happened back then isn't going to happen again. I've been alone, too, and it was awful, and three thousand years is a long time to be alone. I'm not going to make you keep doing that." Yuugi reached out a hand, intending to lay it on Bakura's shoulder, but it found the side of his face instead, damp from tears.

Bakura leaned into the touch, and from there it was very easy for Yuugi to wrap him up in his arms. The thousand years without any interpersonal connection, Yuugi realised, must have left Bakura incredibly touch starved.

When Ryou got bank from the store, he found Yuugi sitting on the couch, flipping through his English notebook, with Bakura fast asleep,his head on Yuugi's lap.

\-----

Mahad eyed the pair with disdain, but Bakura had decided long ago that the priest's opinion meant less than nothing to him, and he curled in closer to Yuugi's side. It was game night again, and Ryou's description of the tavern the party had just entered washed over him meaninglessly as Yuugi's fingers softly threaded through his hair. 

How could someone be who controlled such power be so gentle? And he was always like this, with people he liked, this kind, soft warmth he radiated, yet somehow it never contradicted how strong Bakura knew him to be. He couldn't complain; Yuugi's particular type of unwavering, irresistible gentleness was a very enjoyable thing to be subjected to, he had decided. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined himself here and yet-

"Bakura? Bakura are you even paying attention?" Ryou asked, after apparently having tried to get his attention for several seconds, it seemed. Bakura's guilty face was all the answer he needed. "Fine, honestly we can wrap this up next week anyway, it is getting rather late." 

Around the table various members of the group got up and stretched. Yuugi tapped Bakura, also wanting to get his legs out of the lotus position they'd been in for at least an hour. Bakura reluctantly complied. 

Jounouchi was the first one out, quickly followed by Anzu and Mana. Atem and Mahad lingered at the door, waiting for Yuugi to join them.

"I'll catch up in a minute." He waved them off, and turned towards Bakura, laying awkwardly on the floor. "Comfy down there?"

Bakura frowned, and got up to bid his boy goodbye. "You should stay the night," was what came out of his mouth instead.

"You are always welcome," Ryou agreed.

Yuugi took no convincing. He stayed.

**Author's Note:**

> This was an experience. I've never written for this pairing before so i hope i did it justice! Thank you all ^·^


End file.
